New York IDAs grant $5.6 billion in tax breaks

7:23 PM,
Mar. 12, 2013

The College Town project at Elmwood and Mt. Hope avenues includes a 20-year deal approved by the County of Monroe Industrial Development Agency to divert $26 million in property tax revenue over 20 years to repay a city loan for the development.

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The state's industrial development agencies doled out $5.6 billion in tax breaks to local projects between 2008 and 2011, a state report Tuesday found.

In a struggling economy, the 104 local development agencies across New York increased the exemptions for new projects by 50 percent between 2010 and 2011, from $26 million to $39 million, the report from the state Authorities Budget Office found. The number of new projects increased from 208 to 253 between the two years, the report said.